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Leo
Introduction Leo works as a call-boy at Club Wisp, and is the single most popular prostitute, gaining him the title of Club Wisp's "Golden Boy." He is Crash's best friend and Julian's Contracted. Born to two apathetic parents during the Decline of Paragon, Leo showed promise in the art of music and had the potential to become an influential Singer. Rather than waste money on all of the schooling and potential headache that would cause, his parents chose to let Leo be "normal." In the end, the young man took to the streets and the Turf Wars instead. Disillusioned and angry at everything, Leo went thrill seeking on the border between Wisp and Grute territory. Now he works as a call-boy at Club Wisp, and would finally have been able to refer to himself as mostly happy had Julian not forced him into a contract. Leo is an Elementalist. He has the ability to control fire and his shard is located behind his left eye. He fights with twin guns and his build is agile, though not nearly as strong as Crash is physically. Leo's body is the perfect middleground between Crash's strength and Julian's speed, which is perhaps why he's as skilled as a fighter as he is as a prostitute. Leo is embittered towards the world. He doesn't believe in love, and he is easily angered or frustrated. He has a tendency to be downright mean to people, especially those people who seem to get sympathy or love from others, such as Julian or Miseratti. The latter of these two, Leo is cruel to, and even his arrogant nature can't write the cruelty off as just "for fun." The Golden Boy strives to be the best he can at what he does, partially to please himself, but mostly to pay Mr. Sanarkant the thanks he feels he owes. Story Warning! This information contains spoilers! Around his sixteenth birthday, Leo had a near death experience. He'd been out after school, looking for a fight in all of the usual places when he ended up somewhere between Wisp and Grute territory. He was gunned down and was sure that he was done for, but he woke up in Brutus Sanarkant's care. He'd brought him in and patched him up, or so it seemed. From that day forward, Leo discovered his power over the element of fire, and he worked under Mr. Sanarkant. He never even bothered to go back home. He became extremely loyal to his new father figure, and made a friend in the man named Crash, who was fighting on the streets to earn money to support his sick mother. Leo lived this life happily for several years, with his Boss trying to coax him out of his shell by pushing him into prostitution. It was good money and he didn't mind, and found himself to be rather fond of the job quite quickly. Unabashed and proud, he continued on this way. Along the road he refined his flames while fighting Club Wisp's enemies. It was almost too easy to become Wisp territory's golden boy when Wisp was all you had. He had an advantage in that sense. There was no front world identity to support or protect. He had no friends or family he could endanger to the demons, angels, specters, and thugs that they dealt with so often. His parents, his older sister, Hannah, his younger brother, Jack, were all but forgotten. Despite his pleasure at being able to work for Club Wisp, Leo could not deny that he was baffled by his newfound abilities. While most Elementalists obtained their abilities at birth and began to show them at around age five, Leo had never known himself to have any control over fire at all. Even so, the Turf War between the Grutes and the Wisps was raging as it had been for about a decade before Leo’s arrival, but he and Crash were making a huge dent in it for their side. For once in his life, confusion could be pushed aside. He was finally doing something he could be proud of, and could consider himself useful. At the age of twenty-three, however, the bizarre young man called Julian came into his life abruptly. Julian forged a Contract with Leo without his permission, and at first, all it did was save his life. His flames burned hotter and stronger than ever before, and it was thanks to this newfound strength that Leo and his allies didn't die in the shootout. As Julian could remember nothing of his life, Mr. Sanarkant hired him to be a bartender at Club Wisp, explaining to Leo that Julian was now his partner and that he needed to be protected. They both did. After Julian's arrival and the forming of the Contract, more stray demons and many members of gangs outside of Wisp territory began to show up. Leo, like so many of the employees at Club Wisp, began to suffer the effects of overwork. Mr. Sanarkant introduced a homunculus named Miseratti as his son, and Miseratti began to help run Club Wisp as an assistant manager. Leo was able to relax as some of his back-room workload was dumped on Miseratti instead, but he, Crash, and Julian were faced with more fighting than ever before. Leo found himself in a strange rivalry with Miseratti. He couldn't stand the homunculus, and was even more enraged by Julian's constant insistence that the creature was human. Leo's already hateful relationship with Julian grew worse, and the rift spread even as Julian attempted to get closer to the golden boy. Soon, Leo and the other employees began to notice that Mr. Sanarkant wasn't around very frequently anymore. He'd stopped hiring new people despite the influx of both customers and enemies, and Wisp found itself understaffed. The employees' exhaustion made Leo fear a mutiny, and while Julian spent more and more time with Miseratti, he took it upon himself to take control of Club Wisp. For the most part, this was successful. Mr. Sanarkant, however, vanished entirely a few weeks after this. This was when Julian approached Leo to tell him that Miseratti had vanished, as well. Unwilling to be troubled by the eccentric Julian and the homunculus that was always doting on him, and unable to understand that Julian was his Contractor and needed to be trusted above Leo's own judgment, Leo ignored him. He continued to work hard, determined to make Mr. Sanarkant proud of the maintenance he kept on Club Wisp during the Boss's absence. When work was over, Julian had not come home. Leo slept fitfully and still, Julian never came home. In the morning, he was roused by Crash and told to come downstairs. There the two of them met with Julian and an injured Miseratti, and Mr. Sanarkant was with them. He told them they had a mission to do, and led the four of them through the Grute Territory with some difficulty and into the Crystal Canyon. Leo managed to find the entrance. They entered the Silver Spire, curious to know what was going on but unable to get Mr. Sanarkant to explain yet. At this point, Leo was starting to feel sick, and he could tell by Julian's expression and the gentle buzz over their link that it wasn't just him feeling that way. He stopped before opening a door to ask what was going on, and for the first time since he'd met the man, Mr. Sanarkant lost his temper. He demanded that Leo open the door, and Leo obeyed him without even thinking, while Julian suddenly cried for him to stop. Mr. Sanarkant grabbed Leo in that moment and all but dragged him into the room, the other three following and demanding explanations. Mr. Sanarkant explained that they'd done exactly as he wanted, and that now that he was in the throne room with Leo, the city was his. He pulled a knife and held it to Leo's throat, and turned to let the Proof of Kingship - Leo's blood - spill over the seat. Crash's fist made solid contact with the side of his head as he drew the knife across Leo's throat. Mr. Sanarkant fell unconscious, with Leo falling limply beside him, blood spilling over the throne and onto the ground. In that moment, three things happened. Julian's tattoos flared up. Crash knelt beside Leo and pulled him into his lap, screaming his name. Miseratti went completely rigid. Julian stormed across the room and scraped something off of the ground right beside Mr. Sanarkant's hand, while Leo, miraculously, sat up to lean against Crash and gasp for breath. His throat had healed. Miseratti screamed a warning then, at the same time that he lunged at Leo and Crash with his weapons drawn. Crash yelled for Julian to take Leo and run, and Julian obeyed him after a brief hesitation, leaving Crash to defend himself against Miseratti as best he could. When they were safely out of harm's way, Leo told Julian that he could remember everything that had ever happened in Cedric's life. Julian explained why. He explained the God's Game, and he explained that he was Abel, and that Mr. Sanarkant had probably been dead for a long time, having been possessed by Cain for as long as Julian had known him. They fled upstairs into the audience chambers of the Spire, wandering and trying to gather their memories. Eventually they stumbled upon a bedroom that clearly hadn't been touched in centuries. They recognized it as Abel and Cedric's room, but neither said anything, both still too shell-shocked to really speak. When they turned to leave after finally managing a few words, their path was blocked by Miseratti. Leo came to the realization that Cain, as Miseratti's creator and a Lich Lord, had likely possessed him. Even as his body shakily came closer, broken pleas for Leo and Julian to shoot him left Miseratti's lips. Eventually he specified that he wanted to be shot in the heart, and as he got close enough to be truly dangerous, Leo obeyed him. Something shattered in Miseratti's pocket, and he collapsed. Leo sprinted off to find Crash and Cain, and found both of their bodies in the throne room. Crash was dead, his body completely mangled. Mr. Sanarkant's body was no longer breathing. Julian rejoined him, supporting Miseratti, and a goddess appeared to them in a form Leo recognized as Martel. She explained that they'd won the God's Game, and told Leo exactly why he hadn't died when Cain slit his throat. The fight in the alleyway that led to Leo meeting Mr. Sanarkant for the first time was no accident. Cain had already taken the man's body, and it was him that shot Leo after stalking him for a few weeks. Then, before Leo's soul could leave his body, Cain bound it back to him, effectively creating a homunculus like no other. By forming a Pact with Leo's newly born self, Cain could make Leo reject no orders, and the first order he'd ever given Leo was to despite any incarnation of Abel that he met. However, in making Leo a homunculus, he'd effectively made his worst enemy immortal. What was in Miseratti's pocket had been the Emerald Tablet, which Cain had used as a phylactery to seal his soul. Now, not only were Leo and Julian's memories fully restored, but all three of them were now free and immortal. The King's Prophecy could be fulfilled, should Leo simply take his rightful place on the throne. He did. Some say that Leo and Julian took the places of the Gods of Chaos and Balance, respectively. Miseratti, too, ruled by their side.